With their sophomore effort and debut on Metal Blade entitled _Solar Lovers_, Celestial Season manage to fuse some intensely heavy doom riffs with some of the most beautiful violin playing I've heard. Weird you say? In actuality, this album does have a good semblance of cohesion even if it is hard to imagine whilst reading the above description. Vocals on this release tend toward the growled but faded type a la Amorphis, as well as some clean spoken whispered parts. The tempo on this album never comes within 10 miles of breakneck fast, and to some it could prove an effective lullaby (that includes me!). The first track, "Decamerone", is one of the more memorable tracks on this disc, and unfortunately, a lot of the rest of this album becomes ever fuzzier in my memory as time goes on. Influences apparent here are of course Black Sabbath, as well as a good hint of Kyuss(!). The violins prove to be an effective atmospheric element, but I think the rest of the music needs a little more pizzazz. Overall, an OK album.